King, Puppets, Warning
Disclaimer: don't own nuthin'
The door slowly and quietly opened up, not disturbing the sleeping victim. The intruder made his way to the prey. It's shadow fell upon his face, and crouched down...ready to strike. It jumped onto the sleeping form, causing him to wake. He blinked a few times in surprise to find out what had woken him up. His vision came to him and the first thing he saw was a pair of big blue wooden eyes and a wooden head to match. "AHHHHHHH!" Kaiba screamed as he kicked away the dummy, Sid, his brother owned. Kaiba fell to the floor and backed away fast.
Within seconds he heard the sound of giggling. His eye twitched and he looked underneath his large bed, to find Mokuba holding his sides and a hand to his mouth, trying to muffle the noise. "Y-you s-screamed...at a d-dummy!" he blurted out between giggles. Kaiba growled and grabbed his baby brother by the leg and pulled him out from under the bed.
"Why did you do that, Mokuba?" he hissed at the giggling pre-teen. "Couldn't resist, Seto," his brother smiled innocently, his face all red. "Well, here's something I can't resist," he said walking over to the fallen dummy and then picking up his brother by the scruff of his neck. "Oh c'mon, big brother! It was funny!" Mokuba protested as he was hauled to the door. "No, it was immature, and you should learn," he said pushing him and the dummy out of his door and locking it. He could hear him 'talking' to his dummy friend. "Nice one, kid. That was one of the best ideas you've had to mess with him," Sid's deep voice came from behind the door.
"Thanks, Sid. C'mon let's go mess with some of the staff!" Mokuba replied, followed by footsteps moving further away down the hall. "Why did I ever buy him that freaky thing?" he cursed to himself. He checked the clock by his bed 11:30 A.M. "Dammit, I'm late for work," he muttered moving past his bed and to the closet. Ring ring ring "Now what?" he asked himself. He picked up the phone "Kaiba," he answered. "Mr. Kaiba, I'm sorry to bother you, but there's a man here wanting a job," his secretary reported. "Well, let the employee resource department handle it," he scolded, putting on his work pants. "We tried that sir, but he'd rather talk to you, he insists on it," she replied. He sighed, "Fine, I'll be there in 10 minutes," he said before putting down the phone.
He went to his brothers room and found him watching TV with that creepy dummy beside him. "Mokuba, I'm going to work now, behave," he told his brother. "Seto? Can I go into town and look at some of the toy stores?" he asked his older brother. "I'd rather you stay here, Mokie," he said shaking his head. "Please Seto? I heard there's a puppet theater in town and no one's seen those in decades!" he pleaded, whipping out the big puppy dog eyes, the most dangerous weapon in the little brother arsenal. Seto opened his mouth to talk but stopped when he noticed the dummy was looking at him. Wasn't he facing the TV a few seconds ago? he wondered. "Seto? Can I go?" Mokuba's voice shook him back to reality. "Fine, Mokie you can go, just be home before dinner," he said, glancing at the dummy again.
-KaibaCorp-
"Oh, there you are Mr. Kaiba," his secretary greeted when he stepped off the elevator. "Yeah, yeah I'm here, is he inside my office?" he asked looking at his door. "I'm afraid so sir, should I call security?" she asked him. He thought for a few minutes, "No, let's see how this works out, then if it proves necessary send a couple of guards up here," he said right before the entering his office. As he walked to his desk, he saw the man wanting to talk to him for the job. He had short black hair, some scars on his face, he was dressed in a blue button shirt and black pants with boots. "Well, I take it your the boss?" he asked Kaiba, after he sat down. "I am, Mister...," he paused, taking a look at the file he recieved from his secretary, "Mister Williams. May I ask why you're applying for a job at a game company?" he asked looking hard at him.
"I'm qualified in sales areas, I'm a hard worker, I have plenty of time to work, and it's a lot better than my last job," he recited. Kaiba looked at his file closer, "It says here you were worked at S-Mart, a store in a small chain of retail stores. May I ask why you quit?" he asked him. "Hostile environment at points, plus medical condition," he said, lifting up his right arm. Kaiba was a bit startled to see that his sleeve was knotted at the end of his wrist where his right hand should be. "My hand got lopped off in an, accident, one time on vacation. I tried to get some health benefits but the manager wouldn't give them to me, so I quit," he finished shrugging. "Alright, now my next question, why did you want to see me personally for an interview?" Kaiba asked leaning forward.
"I'd like to meet the big dog I'll be working for," he said smiling. Kaiba sat back, looked at the file, looked at the man and thought for a few minutes. He reached over and pressed the intercom, "Julia, could you come in here for a moment?" he called his secretary. She came in and looked at them nervously. "Sir?" she asked. "Take Mr. Williams on a tour of his work place and get him a KaibaCorp uniform, please," he said gesturing to the man across from him. "Thanks, man. By the way, call me Ash," he said extending his left hand.
-Domino City, Puppet Theater-
Andre Toulon and his puppets were perfoming their fifth show of the day and had the same results, big crowds every show. They all seemed to be enthralled by the uniqueness of the puppets, Mokuba couldn't take his eyes off them during the whole show. He made a mental note to meet the puppeteer aftershow and talk to him. Mokuba wasn't the only one watching the show however, in the rafters above, a figure in red and a black mask gazed on. "So...Toulon's descendant is here as well. This is quite unexpected, yet convenient. His puppets would add considerable strength to our side. I should have a talk with him in the future," he talked to himself in his raspy voice.
Once the show ended, everyone began filing out. Mokuba walked up to Andre and began talking. "That was great, I've never seen a marionette show in a long time," he said eyeing the puppets. "Thank you, kind sir," Andre smiled. "So, how long did it take for you to make them?" Mokuba asked him, picking up a large bodied, small headed puppet. "Actually I didn't, they were my great grandfathers. He made them, he was also a puppeteer like me," he explained. "Oh, well what are they names?" he asked Andre. "Well, the one you're holding is called Pinhead, the one in the black trenchcoat is Blade, the girl is Leech Woman, the jester is called, well Jester, the cowboy with a lot of arms is called Six-Shooter, and the one that looks like a soldier is called Tunneler," he said pointing to them.
"Mokuba, time to go," his older brothers voice called out to him from the entrance. "But Seto!" he whined. Kaiba walked up to him and put his hand on his shoulder. "But nothing, Mokie, time to go home," he said sternly. "Aww...ok. Can I come back here sometime?" he asked hopefully, looking up at his brother. Kaiba looked at the puppeteer. Andre shrugged and smiled "I don't mind at all," he told him. "I'll think about it, c'mon Mokuba," he said ushering his brother out the door.
Andre looked all around and then turned to his puppets "Coast is clear everyone," he told them. The puppets nodded and began moving around. "Not quite clear yet, PuppetMaster," a raspy voice called to him. He looked around searching for the voice as did his puppets. "In front of you," the voice came again. He watched as the figure in red drop down from the rafters and land harmlessly on his feet. "What do you want?" he asked hard. "Just to warn you, descendant of Toulon. There is evil in this city. Great and powerful evil forces are targeting you and your friends," he said looking down at the puppets. "These forces are after others in this town, some who are prepared to fight, some who's role in the oncoming war is not yet revealed. Keep your guard up, PuppetMaster," he said before disappearing a red smoke, leaving Andre speechless.